NFL fans flocked to a league-sponsored festival at Trafalgar Square in London that drew more than 38,000 people Saturday.

Commissioner of the National Football League Roger Goodell holds a fan forum with with 125 fans from 9 different countries all wearing jersey's of their favorite team. The fan were able to ask the Commissioner questions. John Leyba, The Denver Post

LONDON — Surely this wasn’t what the NFL envisioned 10 months ago when it scheduled its fourth consecutive international series game for London.

Who could have imagined that come Halloween, the Broncos (2-5) and the San Francisco 49ers (1-6) would have combined for three victories and 11 losses this season?

So much for the NFL showing off its product to the world. But the series goes on, and the league is determined to give its European fans a real NFL experience, even if the participating teams are reeling coming into today’s game at Wembley Stadium.

At least they will be able to offer some bona fide star players, from the Broncos’ Brian Dawkins and Champ Bailey to the 49ers’ Patrick Willis and Michael Crabtree, whose image is on the game’s media credentials.

From the league’s perspective, the one-game-a-year experience with two NFL franchises is better for promoting the league and growing an international fan base than the now-defunct NFL Europe, which basically served as a second-tier developmental league.

“We ended up learning a lot, and we felt the reason that people were engaging with the NFL is they wanted to see our best product,” said Chris Parsons, the NFL’s vice president of international business. “For us, that is our regular-season games.

“So we decided, let’s pull out all the stops and see if we can bring a game to London. It certainly is a logistical challenge, but the good news at the end of all that is it has been very successful.”

Another sellout expected

The NFL gauges that success in a variety of ways, starting with ticket sales and sponsorship of the games.

“The thing that we didn’t know when we started was: Could we sell all the tickets?” Parsons said.

Those doubts proved to be unfounded. Today’s game between the Broncos and 49ers is expected to be the fourth consecutive sellout for the NFL in London since the series began in 2007 with a game between the Miami Dolphins and New York Giants. Tickets went on sale in January, just before the Super Bowl.

“The tickets go like hot cakes. No problem in that aspect of it,” Parsons said.

With the ticket question solved, the NFL has focused much of its effort in recent years on corporate sponsorship and marketing, along with various events to go along with the game.

For the first time this year, the league shut down the famous Tra-falgar Square for an NFL fan festival Saturday afternoon. More than 38,000 people attended.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell conducted a town-hall meeting with fans, and the league is hosting an official fan tailgate party outside Wem-bley Stadium today. The league expects 30,000 people to attend the tailgate party.

Additional exclusive events for team and league sponsors were scheduled, including a cruise on the Thames River and parties attended by NFL alumni, including legendary Broncos John Elway and Floyd Little.

Yet for all of the potential the NFL believes London has, there is little doubt which football the British care most about. That’s the kind we call soccer, with rugby and cricket coming next.

“Enjoy the atmosphere”

American football? It’s still mostly an afterthought when it comes to media coverage as well as participation.

“It’s really tough in this country because you’re competing with so many other sports. Soccer, rugby, cricket — the games that are your major three, that’s what you’re brought up on and everyone knows it,” said Mark Moss, coach of the British American Football champion London Blitz. “Trying to get football introduced is tough, because we’re always working against those established sports. We have tried to get into the local sports, get some flag stuff, working in the right direction. It’s like soccer breaking into the States.”

Moss said the key to his league gaining popularity in London is increased media exposure, which is also a main goal of the NFL in bringing a regular-season game to London. The NFL issued more than 600 media credentials for today’s game, and there has been a consistent crowd of about 50 reporters, mostly British, at each media session for the 49ers and Broncos in the days leading up to the game.

“I don’t think many of us are really sure of the reception. I think we’re excited about it,” Broncos coach Josh McDaniels said. “It seems to me that they really just enjoy watching football. It’s kind of a unique experience for them, that they’ve had an opportunity to now take part in for a few years. We’re just hoping to enjoy the atmosphere and try to focus on playing the game, playing it as well as we can and winning, and hopefully making it a good part of our year.”

While there has been speculation and preliminary discussions about the possibility of a full-time NFL franchise in London, the next realistic possibility for international expansion lies with the creation of more overseas regular-season games. The NFL is keeping the focus of those efforts in the United Kingdom, with the option of adding another game in London or in another British city because the league estimates 80 percent of the fans coming to today’s game are traveling here from outside of London.

“We like the focus on the UK because we have created a real strength here. London is an attractive place. We feel like we have more fans to bring in and expand the sport,” Parsons said.

Despite the ticket sales and sponsorships, this isn’t a money-making venture for the NFL, which describes the international series as an “investment game.” The NFL makes sure the home team, in this case the 49ers, is “made whole” and doesn’t lose the typical revenue of a home game, and pays any added costs for the visiting team as well.

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